Reordering and Removing Ribbon Tabs in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

Learn how to reorder the Ribbon tabs and remove the custom tabs in PowerPoint 2013.

Author:Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: Microsoft PowerPoint 2013OS: Windows 7 and higher

Date Created: January 28, 2013Last Updated: January 28, 2013

PowerPoint 2013 sports the
Ribbon, which is tabbed -- each of these tabs contains a set of commands. By
default, PowerPoint contains eight such tabs, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, below.

All tabs can be reordered as required. However, the eight default Ribbon tabs that you see in Figure 1 can only be reordered and
not removed. Also the Developer tab cannot be removed although it can be hidden. Follow these steps to explore more:

You first need to bring up the PowerPoint Options dialog box -- there are two ways to access these options. The easier way is to
right-click anywhere on the Ribbon, and choose the Customize the Ribbon option, as shown highlighted in
red with Figure 2.

Either way, this opens the PowerPoint Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4. Make sure you choose the
Customize Ribbon option within the sidebar. This shows the relevant options on the right side of the PowerPoint Options
dialog box (see Figure 4 again).

Figure 4: PowerPoint Options dialog box

Note that we added new Ribbon tab (highlighted in
red within Figure 4, above -- also visible in Figure 2).

Select the tab which you want to reorder within the PowerPoint Options dialog box (we selected our custom tab, as shown
highlighted in red within Figure 5). Then click the Move Up (to move the selected tab
upwards) or Move Down (to move the selected tab downwards) buttons, as shown highlighted in blue
within Figure 5.

Figure 5: Select and reorder the Ribbon tab

In Figure 6, below you can see that the INDEZINE (Custom) tab is moved down to the 7th position from its
original 2nd position.

Figure 6: Ribbon tab moved down

Figure 7, below shows the reordered Ribbon tab is now placed 7th after the Slide Show Ribbon tab. Similarly,
you can reorder any of the Ribbon tabs.

Figure 7: Ribbon tab reordered

To remove a custom tab, just select and right-click it to bring up a contextual menu, as shown in Figure 8, below. Then select
the Remove option, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 8.

Figure 8: Remove the selected tab

Note: Notice that the right-click menu also contains the Move Up and Move Down options, as shown
highlighted in blue within Figure 8.

When done, click the OK button within the PowerPoint Options dialog box to get back to
PowerPoint interface.

Have your ever used keyboard shortcuts and sequences in PowerPoint? Or are you a complete keyboard aficionado?
Do you want to learn about some new shortcuts? Or do you want to know if your favorite keyboard shortcuts are documented?